REITs, Public RE Companies Posted 10.6% Fourth-Quarter Growth Rate

WASHINGTON, DC-Although equity REITs continue to post strong growth,fourth-quarter earnings reports showed a slight slowdown, according toto the National Association of Real Estate Investment Trusts. Even so,80% of surveyed companies either met or beat their earnings estimate,the group’s officials said.

The earnings, measured by funds from operations per share, were based ondata from 111 REITs and publicly traded real estate companies. The combined common equity market capitalization of the reporting companies at the end of December2000 was $122.3 billion, representing 77% of the total industry.

On average, FFO per share rose 8.7% when compared with the same periodlast year. Comparable year-over-year FFO-per-share growth for the thirdquarter averaged 10.2%.